Looking vs. seeing

Earlier I mentioned that seeing is not an easy thing to learn.Now that can be a somewhat confusing statement, since, thanks to your eyes,you spend all day long not bumping into things and not getting run over bycars and recognizing people you know and so on. But I would argue with thatwhat you do most of the time during the day, as you move about your life, islooking, not seeing.See if this sounds familiar.You cannot find your house keys.You look on the kitchen table, you rifle the pockets of everything you've wornlately, you go outside and search the car, and you retrace your footsteps as bestyou can remember about your house, and after long minutes of franticsearching, you return to the kitchen table where you started, only to find thatthe keys have been sitting there all along.

Since you had already looked at the table, why didn't you find them right away?Because you merely looked at the table; you didn't see the table.We've discussed how 80% of your visual sense is made up by your brain, and whatit makes up is based on memory and previous experience.This is why children often notice things that adults don't.They simply don't have enough experience for their brain to make stuff up.They have to actually see everything in front of them and work out exactly whatit is they are experiencing.We're very fortunate that our brains work this way. Getting through the day wouldbe much more difficult if we had to actually see every detail of a car torecognize it as a car, rather than simply being able to glance in the directionof the car and note its presence.

The problem is, while this is happening, it's very difficult to know that you'renot actually seeing the things before you.After all, when you don't see the keys on the kitchen table, it's not like yousee a conspicuous key-shaped hole in their place.No, instead you perceive what you think the table should look like, not whatit really looks like, and so you have no indication that you're not seeing properly.This inability to perceive things as they really are is not a great trade for a photographer.It makes it harder for you to recognize good subject matter, especially ifyou're in a place that you're already very familiar with, and it makes it harderto see how to compose an interesting subject once you've spotted it.

In the rest of this chapter we're going to explore a few particulars of seeingand look at some exercises to help you improve your ability to actually seethe world around you.First though, we're going to look at one of the most important limitationsof your camera.

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Released

12/22/2011

Composition can make an interesting subject bland or make an ordinary subject appear beautiful. In this course, photographer and author Ben Long explores the concepts of composition, from basics such as the rule of thirds to more advanced topics such as the way the eye travels through a photo.

The course addresses how the camera differs from the eye and introduces composition fundamentals, such as balance and point of view. Ben also examines the importance of geometry, light, and color in composition, and looks at how composition can be improved with a variety of post-production techniques. Interspersed throughout the course are workshop sessions that capture the creative energy of a group of photography students; shooting assignments and exercises; and analyses of the work of photographers Paul Taggart and Connie Imboden.